The
Ascending Sun
Sathyanarayana
Raju, aged 14, student, fourth form, Uravakonda
High School, threw off his bag of books one
evening, saying, "My followers are calling me; I
have My work to do. I do not belong to you any
more," [see: The
Serpent Hill]
and walking out of his brother's home, he sat
under a Banyan tree and sang a song he wanted
the gathering to sing with him:
"Those
who desire to liberate themselves from the chain
of birth, struggle, success, failure, ease and
disease, and death, Come! Adore the Feet of the
Master!"
That was the announcement of the amazing
advent.
The good news
spread: "The Sai Baba of Shirdi in Maharashtra
has come again as promised." Streams of pilgrims
bound for Shirdi turned to Puttaparthi where He
was born and spent His boyhood in song and
dance, music and mystery. The maimed, the ill,
the distressed, the distracted - they came in
hundreds from far and near. Baba consoled, and
cured; He revealed their past which shaped the
present, and the present that would determine
the future of those who sought His guidance. He
showered love beyond measure on the unhappy,
rich and poor alike; He manifested suprahuman
Power transcending the Laws of Nature: His
wisdom surpassed that of the greatest of sages.
Those who came to examine remained to extol;
those who extolled desired that others too
should share the thrill; thus the triumph of the
Master spread from region to region. That was
the Ploughing of the Field, the
Preparation.
Fresh from His
beneficent tour of India from Kanyakumari to
Kilanmarg, Baba, in His 32nd year, resolved to
further His Dharmasthapana,
the revival and re-establishment of the moral
order in human affairs, in a wider and more
persistent manner. He inaugurated the
Sanathana
Sarathi,
the monthly magazine in eleven languages,
Telugu, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada,
Marathi, Gujarathi, Bengali, Hindi, Assamese and
Nepali: the clarion for His call, the conch that
awakens and arouses, the banner for humanity's
campaign against its inner foes, lust, anger,
greed, attachment, pride and hate. Baba also
exhorted people to sing in chorus the glory of
God and encourage each other to march towards
Him. He himself moved over the land like a
rain-cloud, [see also: The
Raincloud]
showering courage and conviction on hearts
parched by the cruel rays of doubt,
disappointment, disputation and dilemma. This
was the sowing of the seeds, seeds of
Sathya,
Dharma,
Shanthi,
and Prema,
seeds reinforced with the authority of the
ageless
Vedas
and the indisputable experience of the sages and
seers of all lands. Many were touched by the
Light of Love and many were aroused into spurts
of
Sadhana
and tenacious efforts to serve, through His
discourses that inspired them to search within
for the reality instead of seeking without for
its shadow. And many were helped to tap the
springs of ecstatic communion with the Divine
through the discipline of Bhajan.
These were called into the Presence [see
also: The
Constant
Presence],
at Madras, for the First All India Conference of
Sathya Sai Seva Groups, where everyone was armed
with a new vision and a new vitality to render
social service and win self-realization. The
seeds, thus, sprouted fast, fed by the warming
rays of the Sai Sun.
The first two
volumes of this book "Sathyam
Sivam Sundaram"
[SSS]
have chronicled these events. Let me now resume
the Bhagavatha
(*),
the story of the Lord, bringing Heaven into
human hearts and liberating man from the prison
he has sentenced himself into!
(*)
See
also Baba's Bhagavatha
Vahini.
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